CHAPTER THREE   /   ACT ONE

First Kill

                             The sky was beginning to grow dark, the moonlight barely touching the ground as Gwen walked through a forest. The air felt heavy around her, her feet feeling heavy on the ground.

Her surroundings were unusual to her. Of course, she knew she was outside but she didn't realize how different things would be from the 1800s.

Every once in a while weird metal object's with wheels would zoom past her further into town, faster than she could ever go. Like a carriage of some sort.

Before she knew it, she was in the middle of the town, people walking by on the sidewalks freely without a care in the world while she stood there lost and confused. The area was full of what seemed to be shops and restaurants.

What she truly wanted to do was leave this town and run as far as possible, but even she knew that was a bad idea. If she couldn't understand her surroundings in a small quaint town like this, she stood no chance against the entire world.

"Elena?"

Her head immediately turned to the highpitched voice behind her, only finding herself staring at a girl wearing a blue dress, along with long wavy blonde hair that fell down to her shoulders.

"Who?" Gwen spoke delicately, her eyebrows drawing together.

"Haha, very funny." The blonde fake laughed as she locked shoulders with her immediately, dragging her across the sidewalk. "So, are you heading to the Bachelor Raffle?"

"The what?" The Hale inquired.

"Y'know? The fundraiser for Founder's Day?" She nudged her on the arm to "jog her memory". "At the Grill?"

'Grill..' Gwen's lips purse as she thought back to the restaurant in which Stefan had mentioned earlier.

"Oh.. yes, of course." She smiled awkwardly, attempting to desperately keep her composure. "I am.. going to the Grill."

The girl glanced in Gwen's direction with a concerned expression on her face. "Are you okay, Elena? You seem.. buzzed. Did Jeremy let you borrow some of his pot?"

"Um.. yes!" Internally shrugging, Gwen nodded her head eagerly.

"What?!" She immediately stopped in her tracks, released the vampire's arm. "That was supposed to be a joke, Elena!"

"Who's Elena?" Gwen asked, confusion clouding her mind as she tilted her head to the side slightly.

"Oh my god, you've only taken drugs once and you're already worse than Jeremy.." She sighed loudly, shaking her head as she ran a hand through her long blonde locks.

Eventually, her voice became muffled in Gwen's mind, along with everything else around her. Her surroundings slowly faded out of focus until her eyes found a giant sign  hanging over a large building. The lights inside flickered sporadically, making it barely comprehendable to understand the words.

Though eventually it made clear to her.

Mystic Grill.

Her eyebrows raised up almost instantly, and before she could stop herself, she was already making her way inside, disregarding the calls of the blonde who chased after her. Eventually, Gwen lost sight of her behind the doors, the cool breeze hitting her skin and allowing goosebumps to rise upon them.

The place was bustling, filled with the various voices of the customers as they conversed amongst each other. Music played quietly in the background, the sound of heels clacking on the wooden floors echoing around the room.

In the middle of the establishment, a banner hung from the ceiling with the words 'Founder's Day Bachelor Raffle' printed neatly above it. Underneath stood a stage, along with a woman speaking into a microphone with a bright smile on her face.

Though Gwen failed to retain the words that came out of her head. Once again, the smell of fresh blood hit her senses, forcing its way up through her nose until her throat began burning.

As much as it pained her to admit it, her bloodlust started to overcome her mind. In order to avoid getting lost in her desire to kill anyone within her vicinity, Gwen forced herself into a small dark space alone by the back doors;  hidden away from everyone.
She leaned against the door frame, pressing her body into the wood so as not to draw attention to herself.

Just as she thought she was safe, the door  suddenly swung open, making the brunette jump forward in surprise.

"Gwen?"

A familiar deep voice echoed through the doorframe. It was Damon. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the boarding house."

"I-I know." Her fists tightened, digging her fingernails into her palms as her chest heaved heavily. "But I just couldn't stay in that house for a moment longer without any sunlight."

"How're you.." The vampire's thoughts trailed until he noticed the blue ring wrapped around her index finger, one that was usually sitting on his brothers. "Is that Stefan's daylight ring?"

"..Yes." She swallowed hard, avoiding eye contact. "I stole it."

"You... stole it." He repeated slowly, trying to process the situation that Gwen was currently in. "Wow, didn't take you as the bad type. You have this odd sense of innocence looming around you."

"Yeah." Gwen replied quickly, shifting her weight back onto both of her feet.

"You wanted sunlight that badly?" Damon questioned slowly. The brunette responded with silence, her eyes wandering from the dark haired vampire to the crowd of people. She didn't have to say a word for him to understand what she meant.

"Oh.. I get it." His tone became arrogant, a smirk tugging at his lips as he stared down at her. "You're hungry."

"Starving." She whispered bitterly.

Something good may have come out of that tomb after all. Another toy for Damon to play with. The perfect one at that. He had time before the event started to play his games, but nonetheless there was no time to waste.

Without warning, Damon grabbed Gwen by the shoulder, dragging her further into the grill, an idea coming into his head as they entered. "Well if you're that hungry, we better feed you."

Before she could protest, Damon dragged her to the front of the bar where a relatively attractive man sat hunched over, taking a sip from a glass of whiskey.

"Excuse me." Damon called out, grabbing the mans attention instantly. "My friend over here  hasn't been out with a guy in forever, and she's getting kind of.. needy."

The man set his glass down slowly as Damon pushed her closer towards the counter, Gwen's heart beating rapidly in her chest as she realized the situation she was in.

"I'm sure you wouldn't mind.. helping her out a bit?" A smirk grew across the man's lips, a sinister glint in his dark eyes as he eyed Gwen.

Before she knew it, the three stood in an ally behind the grill. Damon holding the terrified man by his neck as if he was displaying him to Gwen.

"I don't want to hurt anybody!" The brunette breathed heavily.

"You're a vampire now Gwen, of course you do." Damon stated matter of factly. "You need to feed, you need to hunt, you need to kill. It's who you are."

"Blood bags won't help you, they're not enough. You need the real thing. Straight from the vein."

She clenched her fists tightly, feeling as though something within her snapped. As if there was a part of her that wasn't under control anymore and she had no choice but to accept the fact.

'It is what I am.'

With that final thought in mind, fangs formed themselves in her mouth. Her body jolted forward, pinning the man against the wall and out of Damon's grasp. Eagerly, she sunk her teeth into his flesh and sucked the blood from his neck. He let out an agonizing scream as she continued feeding, causing blood to pour from his wound in a waterfall.

Damon smirked as he watched her drain the life out of him, satisfied with his work.

Soon, however, she pulled her head back,  letting go of the struggling body. The man saw his chance to run as her grasp on him loosened and took off further down the ally, screaming for help.

A smile crept on Gwen's lips as she watched him run. She intentionally waited a few more moments before racing after him with Damon following close behind.

The ally eventually came to a dead end, the man standing at the very end, pleading for his life. His bloodied arms were wrapped around his stomach in an attempt to protect himself.

The vampire lunged forward and pinned the man against the wall once more, the sound of his body hitting the cement wall resonating through the allyway.  Her grip around his throat tightening as she began to bite down harder, the blood filling her mouth as she drank faster. Her vision became distorted; the walls surrounding them began to fade in and out of existence, as did reality itself. But still, she continued on.

Before she knew it his struggles ceased. The sound of his his body falling to the ground echoed throughout the alleyway but his head still remained in her hands. Then, as if it were in slow motion, her eyes met his wide dead ones before looking down and seeing the detached body hunched over on the ground. Her eyes widened, her breath hitched, and her movements stopped as she let his lifeless head crashed onto the floor with a sickening thud.

Blood stained her blouse, dripping slowly from the corner of her lips. Her hands trembled, the taste of copper lingering in her mouth as she looked back up to find Damon staring down at her in amusement. And only then, as she watched the remaining blood spill from his head to form a small puddle, had she realized what she'd done.

"He's dead." She mumbled in shock. "I-I killed him."

Her voice trembled slightly with guilt. "Oh my god, I—" Tears welled up in her eyes. She looked up at the raven haired vampire beside her, who stared at her with such intensity it sent shivers down her spine.

"Don't feel bad." He stated calmly, though the smirk remained on his face without fail. As if he was enjoying the sight before him. "Like I said, it's just who you are."

Tears spilled out of her eyes, trailing down her cheeks as she stared blankly at the bloody corpse in front of her. Suddenly, the sound of rapid footsteps caught her attention, causing her to snap out of her daze.

Turning her head swiftly, her teary eyes met with Stefan's wide ones.

She could practically see the shock written all over hm when he finally made it to where she and Damon were.

"I'm sorry," she uttered quietly, lowering her head as tears continued to fall from her eyes. "I shouldn't have―"

She stopped short, unable to bring herself to finish her sentence because she feared that she would break down in sobs.

"We need to get you out of here, now." Stefan interrupted her train of thought, walking straight past his brother. He immediately began to lead her away from the scene, no time to argue or sit there and process everything in front of him.

After hesitating slightly, she allowed him to drag her away by her wrist. "Damon, you take care of the body."

"Got it boss." The other vampire responded with his usual sarcasm, jokingly saluting though Stefan payed no mind to his behavior.

The pair left the allyway, back into the open next to the Mystic Grills opening. Gwen could hear the sounds of music drifting in and out through the large windows and doors leading outside, the faint noise barely reaching her ears due to how loud and busy the streets of Mystic Falls were.

"You're covered in blood," Stefan halted,
stumbling the brunette in process. He took a glance around the dark sidewalk, barely lit by the street lamps. "Take my jacket, cover up the stains."

He swiftly removed his arms from the sleeves of his jacket, draping it carefully across her shoulders and zipping it up until there wasn't a stain in sight except for around the rim of her mouth. "Thank you," she muttered weakly. They continued to walk in silence after that, neither of them knowing exactly what to say.

While the circumstances weren't ideal, she was thankful he wasn't angry with her for her lunacy. She may have believed that his endeavors to keep her locked in his home were drastic, but after tonight, she knew that he was simply trying to protect her. Whether there was more to the reasoning behind his actions, she no longer cared. 

At this point in time, she wanted nothing more than to forget all about the whole ordeal. But even that wasn't enough to erase the guilt that lingered inside.

Gwen rested peacefully on the couch that night, waiting for Stefan to return with cleaner clothing to replace her now bloody ones while Damon was searching for a towel to clean the stains from her face.

No one had barely uttered a word since they left the alley. Stefan was too focused on getting her home, Gwen was too ashamed to speak, and Damon knew if he spoke then he'd only recieve an earfull from his brother. So he remained silent as well, allowing Gwen to stew in her own guilt.

Footsteps echoed through the hallway, breaking the tense atmosphere in the room as Damon returned with a wet towel.  He laid it gently on top of Gwen's face, wiping away the stray drops of blood from her lips.

Once the cloth dried her face, she sat up, trying her best to avoid eye contact.

"Thank you." She muttered, taking the cloth and placing it delicately to the side.
Damon nodded in response as he stared at her with a grin plastered on his features.

"How did it feel?" He asked.

"How did it feel?" She scoffed, glaring at him with a scowl. "I killed someone; ripped off his head. That man had a family, people who loved him, and I-"

"No, no, no. Not that." Damon interrupted her words with a roll of his eyes, waving his hand in front of her. "How did it feel, when you fed from him, chased after him,"

His words caused Gwen to quickly spin her head away from him in shame. "When you took the life out of him..."

"It doesn't matter." The vampire replied quickly. "It'll never happen again."

"Why not?" His forehead creased  in confusion, though he already knew the answer before she had to say it.

"Because I loved it." She finally admitted to him, and to herself.

Silence filled the air once more as she tried to wrap her head around the feelings that came along with feeding, disgust washing over her mind as she digested her words. But it was nothing but the truth. It felt like a rush that she couldn't get enough of. The more she fed, the crazier she got.

Damon stared into her eyes and felt a sense of victory. Not just because he had sucessfully gottem her to feed-to kill, but because he finally realized out what was right in front of him.

He had a new ripper to play with.

AUTHORS NOTE
LOL SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG BUT TY FOR READING!!!

pls tell me if theirs any spelling mistakes bc it helps lmfao